The HCG Diet discussions

In this post I would like to talk about the HCG Diet in general and about all the discussions I've seen around on the web and on TV. First of all, I'm a doctor or anything related to expert of nutrition and similar, I speak or I'd say write based on my personal experience.

Lots of website and videos on YouTube are totally against about this Diet, and I could understand why, first time I read: 500 Calories I thought it was insane. Whoever is against claims the fast weight loss on the restrictive daily amount of food, which is logically true; we don't need to be genius here to understand that with only 500 Calories a day I may lose weight. Often I see the results of a research conducted to a group of people who were given HCG and to some of them only a placebo, both groups lost weight without feeling hungry apparently. It might be that human brain is strong enough to elude your hunger feeling; I think it could be possible. What was not mentioned though for this research is what type of physical results they got from the Diet? Did they lose fat or muscle? Did they feel weak and tired or always energetic? Were both groups in starvation mode? How was their Ketosis?

What I want to say here is that I personally went to a very strict Diet, with nothing, just Vitamins, sure I lost weight and quickly but I was always starving, always weak, always dizzy, I couldn't think about anything else but food, that was my Dr. Bernstein Diet: a medically supervised scam!

When I started my HCG Diet, of course I had my doubts, I already lost lots of money and my health with the previous one, I am not stupid to go back and do it again. I promised myself that if I ever felt as before I'd stop immediately. Having an Eating Disorder due to a Diet is nothing I wish to anyone.

But in my experience, after a first rough VLCD day on HCG I felt amazing, absolutely amazing, full of energy and free from my food addiction. Still today, after 14 days using it I'm amazed on how I don't feel almost ever hungry, how I can still walk and do my things with no issues, my body feels amazing! I am burning fat daily with high traces of Ketosis, I'm happy for no reason; sometimes I ask myself how come you're happy?! I know it's silly but I'm studying my own body's reaction to this Diet, I'm evaluating every single day. I don't want to risk my health again, and I don't want to fail again.

 So in conclusion, you can blame HCG to be a scam but I've the proof that this Diet works, not much for the weight loss, but for all the rest: I'm really feeling changes in my body and my hormones, all I can thank is HCG.

HCG Diet - VLCD #14 - My Detox Bath good results

Today is a good day for my HCG Journey; I lost 600gr since yesterday morning (which in pounds would be around 1.3lb I believe).  I had my Detox bath yesterday, who know if it might helped the weight loss but, in any case, I'm grateful for that. I don't like seeing the scale not reporting any change….I will think differently during maintenance I guess.

This morning for some reason my mood is very good, I'm sure HCG have some sort of effect on that, I clearly noticed a huge difference when I started using it, I was always sad and down previously, sure my weight would make me unhappy too sometimes but I'm still more less the same, it's been only 14 days anyway.

I forgot to pack my grissino this morning, at the begin I thought I'd not have it, since I sadly switched to having an apple for breakfast, I figured it might increase too much my daily carb amount, that's ok I guess I may have at home or a couple of celery pieces instead. I forgot that too!

I've to admit, this morning I had a strong desire to add some organic cocoa powder on my apple, and then I changed mind, thinking about Dr. Simeons and how easy could be to get off the wagon when dieting, I'm hungry a bit now though, which usually doesn't happen in this way, again it might be my ovulation….women we have it all!

This is my VLCD #14 and I am still full of energy, no dizzy, no weak at all with this 500 Calories Diet, I still can't believe it. You would understand me only when you first tested what's being on starvation mode and feeling incapable to do anything, even walking was a challenge for me with Dr. Bernstein Diet, I felt fainting many times! What crazy Diet, if I look back I think I wasted so much money for nothing, quite the opposite actually, I had only negative results from it: my anxiety for famine, my binge eating disorder, my thin hair, my depression, my over re-gain weight, my period missed for months. Oh well, we live & learn I guess.

HCG Diet - VLCD #13 - Non-Fat Cottage Cheese alternative

This morning my scale did not show any change in weight since yesterday, oh well I hope somewhere, on my body, inches are changing though. It's my VLCD #13 today and I'm feeling a bit dizzy, not hungry but I've cravings here and there, I can't tell if I'm just bored and I want something to chew on, or it's my food-deprivation that is talking. Nothing unbearable though, I might just be victim of my own ovulation period. I'm not necessarily craving sugar though, and this is a good thing.

Yesterday, for the first time on my HCG Diet, I had 100gr of Non-Fat Cottage Cheese for my protein serving, to dip with some celery. It was good, I was worried my body would not process the cheese properly, but it didn't so I'm thinking to change sometime and have some cheese, instead of the usual chicken. I believe eliminating all those food categories for so long might hurt my tolerability to it, same thing for carbs, I usually have my grissino or my melba toast during the day. I don't want to give up gluten forever, I might reduce it of course, but I still want to be able to eat pasta or pizza once in a while, never forget I'm Italian at the end.

I also think that bringing some sort of variation in the everyday diet is always good, so the body doesn't become too comfortable with the same food and decide not to lose anymore. I do have to admit though that I'm loving my baby spinach chicken salad, and for now I'll keep it as a staple on my Diet, till I get bored of it, then I'll change with something else.

Today I did my injection on my belly again, I felt I was doing so well in the first few days and wanted to change back to see if my body will keep on behaving for my weight loss.

Since it's Wednesday I'll have my Detox Bath tonight before bed, it's relaxing, I put baking soda in it too and I enjoy the warm water for about 20 minutes or so, my cat comes always around curios on what I'm doing, I can tell that he would like to come inside the bath tub…if there was no water in it!

Right now I'm sitting at my desk in my office, and I'm freezing, I hope it's the Ketosis, this morning I was a +2 Small Traces of Ketosis, yesterday I had 2 fruits and my grissino. Too much carbs and also the Cheese has milk, which contains sugar so, it might be for that, but I also noticed that I cannot have 2 fruits per day, I've to try with the strawberries but 2 of Apple / Orange doesn't work for my body. So I might need to stick to 1 fruit per day. I'm pretty sure if I don't eat any fruit in a day, my Ketosis will sky-rock to +12 in few hours! At the end I'm eating only 500 Calories per day.

One great thing of the HCG Diet is that – contrary to the Dr. Bernstein Diet – does not put you in starvation mode. The body "think" that I'm pregnant (which I'm not), so it gets all the abnormal stored fat to release the missing amount of daily calories and save the "baby" from starving basically. Doing a Diet that puts you in starvation mode is not healthy at all, I've my personal experience, weight gain is back in no time and developing an Eating Disorder is very common in this situation.

HCG Diet - VLCD #12 - Protein Powder for P2

Today is my VLCD  #12, the Diet is proceeding well, this morning the scale reported a promising loss and I'm now officially into the 61 Kg mark. Being over the 62Kg-s is motivating for me, although I know slowdowns and brief stalls are part of the Diet, nobody likes seeing unchanging-weight when having such a small amount of Calories.

I've to admit, today for lunch I might had way too much chicken, I had hard time to portion exactly gr on Sunday when I cooked in advance all my meat. I bought 3 packages of organic chicken breast at the supermarket and I wanted to grill and portion so I'd have ready for my salads for the whole week and more. I tried to give estimation on how many portions I will have with the amount bought, but then – since I removed lots of fat from it – I estimated a slightly smaller amount of portions. I don't think I was over that much, I'd say rather than 100gr of chicken breast I had maybe 120gr or 130gr. Cooked chicken has an extremely lower weight than the raw one, I have the proofs!

So now it's just after lunch and my stomach feels full, due to the large amount of spinach I had with the chicken too I guess, I should remind myself to be careful with my portions if I don't want to waste a week worth of HCG and hard work. I don't believe in the typical suggestion that lots of people give when dieting: "don't be hard on yourself if you cheat, it's ok", no it's not ok, I need to be disciplined, I was a compulsive eater for this reason, allowing myself to binge and thinking that would be better tomorrow….which never happened. That's the similar reason why people go to those boot-camp gym classes, to be yelled in their ears to push hard on exercise and never stop. We need strong directions on our weaknesses; well at least this is for me and might not apply to everyone.

I'm researching to buy some protein powder for my P2 Phase, I know it's not in Dr. Simeons protocol but I believe that if I find a non-fat protein blend I'd be ok with that. The reason why I want to buy Protein powder is because I know the importance for my body to have my Protein intake every day. Sometimes I find myself skipping a meal and that means skipping a Protein serving. The body gets in alarm-mode, hunting for food and it's not healthy for my metabolism and a healthy food-relationship.

I checked online which could be the best Protein Powder I could buy, and I found a brand name called Jay Robb, apparently it's a guy that makes some good tasting Protein powder with 0 Fat and very low in basically everything. I want to find it today after work, I might use it just once in a while but I thought it could be a very good habit even for my HCG P4-life Phase, learning on how to properly nourish your body is fundamental at the end.

Talking about protein I read a very interesting article about it, so true that when the body has the right amount of protein is content, that's why sometime is good having protein before bed, so you can sleep better, rather than being on alerting hunting-mode (explained the strong nap-desire after meals!).

Another thing I noticed affecting a lot my weight loss is the amount of water I have daily. If I don't drink more than 2L of water, I don't lose weight, I don't feel right either. When we lose weight we release lots of toxins that are stored in our fat cells, those toxins need to be eliminated from our system, or they will make us sick or with uncomfortable feelings. One proved way to help this elimination is drinking water, it helps a good kidney functioning so the liver (which is the main organ for the detoxification) is not busy doing double job! 

HCG diet - VLCD #11 a former weight to deal with

I'm officially into the double digits VLCD days; today's my very low calories day #11 and – although my scale did not show any change this morning – I'm happy of the overall Diet.

So far this has been for me the best experience I could ever imagine while losing weight; I know it might take some time for me to reach my goal, but I'm good with that, I cannot expect to become thin overnight so I'll be patient and enjoy the journey. Actually sometime I even think that I'll be afraid of getting off of HCG, it gives me so much boost in terms of mood and energy. I am EVERY SINGLE day amazed on how good I feel, no weak, no dizzy as with the Dr. Bernstein Diet.

My weight today's the same as yesterday, but I knew it would happen since I'm in the 62Kg, which is one of my former weights I had for long in the past, it's common to hit a plateau when reaching a former weight. I did again my measurements this past weekend, after a week on HCG and overall I lost 1cm here and there, some places none, but what is most rewarding for me is that I lost 8cm just on my belly -which is the spot where I usually gain more weight, in general middle section let's say.

In many blogs, videos I learned that usually when you are not seeing any change on the scale, it might be in inches on your body. To be honest, I'm not here every day to take measurements of my body's changes, but I can tell when I won't see much changing the day after on the scale. Since the food is so little there are no regular daily bowl movements in this Diet – as well as with any Low Calories Diet, I had same issues while on Dr. Bernstein; this might be another reason why the scale doesn't show a weight loss. Maybe that's why Dr. Simeons defined a real plateau only after 4/5 days of no weight change, not less than that.

I noticed that if I have 2 fruit servings in a day or twice chicken then I'd feel big and most likely my weight is not going to change the day after. This was happening even during my Dr. Bernstein strict Diet.

For my body white fish or strawberries are things that will make me lose lots of weight, but I had so much in the past that now I can't stand it anymore! Like the Jell-O…

This morning I also change my injection spot, till today I had my shots on my abdomen, but I switched on my buttocks, since my belly is full of bruises right now, nothing painful or anything but I just wanted to try a different spot, thinking that maybe the HCG will be absorbed better close to such a big muscle. Who knows…it might be just a crazy theory!

Weight = 62.2Kg

BF = 25.7%
BMI = 22.6

HCG Diet - VLCD #8 my reflections

It is finally Friday and I can report another loss today; so far since I started my VLCD days I lost a total of 4.4Kg that means in pounds about 9.7lb in a week. I know that the first 7/10 days the weight loss is more consistent, but that's ok, I'm happy even with just 300gr loss daily, I don't want to stress too much my body losing lots of weight so quickly. Apparently I read that the Loading Days, and how they're done, is very important for the best results of the HCG Diet. If you load properly you will lose lots the first week and with no hunger or side effects from the 500 – Calories diet. Personally I believe I ate lots of fat during my 2 days of gorging, and definitely eliminating sugar, prior to start my diet, helped me so much to avoid any craving or withdrawal.

It's my VLCD #8 today and I often smile thinking on how amazing I feel and how incredible is still to me the fact that I'm not hungry for most of the day. Sure around meals time or in the morning I get a bit hungry, but it's not bothering me at all, it's bearable, I eat my orange for breakfast my detox tea and I'm super happy, I don't even feel eating. How could this be real!?! Because I still don't know what's happening to my body and to my mind. I see my belly pouch going down every day, I don't feel weak, I'm not grumpy – quite the opposite – my skin is changing in better, I'm glad every day that I found the HCG Diet!

Tomorrow I'll be checking again my body measurements after this first week with the HCG Diet, I already know that I'll see a decrease in terms of inches, I noticed on my clothes, I can fit almost normally in some dresses, not all of them yet but I'm working on. Some people say that if you don't see a weight loss on the scale most likely you will see it on your inches, because this Diet is really all about Pounds & Inches!

This blog is for me like a sort of personal diary for my Diet-life journey, although maybe nobody will read my words, I could go back to old posts and see what was my experience at the time, and learn maybe something. For the HCG Diet there's a big community on YouTube, very nice, lots of normal people uploading videos on their channels, sharing experience and support, some people find this experience of shooting videos and following the HCG Community on YouTube a great help for accountability. I thought about on making videos too, but then I recalled my accountability with the nurses at the Dr. Bernstein clinic, and the feeling of freedom I had when I was not going there anymore or just skipping a day. When the accountability came less for me, I let all my self-control with food go away, it brought me to Binge Eat and to my disorder. I had no more no one telling me that I was not in Ketosis or that I had to stick on the strict diet, so I did whatever I wanted. For this reason, this time, I wanted to be accountable only to myself, I want to reach my goals without depending on someone else opinion if I don't do it. I might be wrong and this might not work for everyone, but I try to learn from my previous mistakes and change what I think was wrong.

"Pounds & Inches"

In this post I would like to talk about "Pounds & Inches". When approaching Dr. Simeons Protocol a.k.a. HCG Diet, inevitably we come across this manuscript. Lots of people think that "Pounds & Inches" is just a book, to read in the spare time…if! Well that's the worst thing you could do if your intention are to embrace this HCG journey.

Pounds & Inches is – without any doubts – an instruction manual for the HCG Diet, written by hand by Dr. Simeons, with all his thoughts and results from his past experiences trying to fight obesity. Latest version – which I believe is the 7^th edition – was published in 1971.

In this manuscript you'll find all the information you will need to follow the protocol, it's a complicated Diet, lots of details are explained, as well as the reasons why he did or did not something. Dr. Simeons talks also about cases he studied during his researches, and it's impressive how everything makes perfect sense.

I personally read it three times, I highlighted some information that I considered relevant for me, and I often go back to read, searching for answers. I could not start this Diet without "Pounds & Inches", not only from an instructions point of view but also, and most importantly, because it gave me the reason why this HCG Diet is so effective, why people are losing weight as never before and be able to maintain it. This little manual gave me the motivation and the excitement that I was looking for since years now, this manuscript made me understand why all my previous tentative on losing weight, since I was a teenager, were unsuccessful, and the more I was trying the more I was failing.

Do not underestimate this manuscript, read it more than once, keep it always handy, you will need it along your journey. The more you strictly follow the Protocol (detailed in Pounds & Inches) the more your Diet will reward you. Don't believe only on my words, search online about it, how many people went slight off from the Protocol and they had stall, weight gain and general unpleasant feelings during the treatment.

Kevin Trudeau wrote his own book based on Dr. Simeons Protocol, but his is really a book, he's not a doctor, he took all the details of the HCG diet to make a fortune his own. "Pounds & Inches" is a free – PDF downloadable – manuscript, a quick search online and you can find it everywhere for free. It's just few pages, easy to read, classified in clear chapters, so no excuse for anyone to skip this mandatory step when starting the HCG Diet.